Site Search Navigation

Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

Supported by

Holiday Word

By Janie Lorber January 18, 2010 8:23 amJanuary 18, 2010 8:23 am

For the first time, a black president will observe the holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

President Obama and the first lady, Michelle Obama, will participate in a community service event in Washington. They will attend the annual “Let Freedom Ring!” concert at the Kennedy Center at 6 p.m. India.Arie will perform; Mr. Obama will speak. Line up for free tickets, two per person on a first-come-first-served basis, at 10 a.m. Monday.

Final Massachusetts Push: In Massachusetts the holiday means one final day of hard campaigning for Attorney General Martha Coakley and her Republican opponent, State Senator Scott Brown.

The Times’s Michael Cooper takes a look at the power of Massachusetts’ Independent voters, a group that now outnumbers registered Democrats. Indeed, the state may no longer deserve its reputation as a liberal bastion.

Populist Platform: Election Day is Tuesday and regardless of who wins, the race solidified new battle lines for the 2010 midterms. Ms. Coakley has spent the last few days aligning her opponent with wealthy bankers, a sign that Democrats are “crafting an economic populism to counter the anti-government populism of the Tea Party movement and its Republican allies,” writes The Times’s John Harwood.

Plan B: The race, of course, is the chief political focus here in Washington and White House officials, including Mr. Obama, have been trying to figure out how they will salvage the health care overhaul if Ms. Coakley loses and Democrats no longer have the filibuster-proof 60 votes.

The best among their three distasteful options is convincing House Democrats that they can swallow the Senate bill without any changes, eliminating the need for 60 votes, since the Senate would not have to act again, writes The Times’s David Herszenhorn. The other alternatives — budget reconciliation, which may not even be possible this late in the game, and pushing a revised bill through the Senate before Mr. Brown is sworn in — would have resounding political consequences.

If Democrats do try to speed a Senate vote, Republicans could start a legal battle over the legitimacy of interim Senator Paul J. Kirk’s vote after his successor has been elected, Politico reports.

Missed Intel: The failure to link disturbing pieces of intelligence about the threat to the United States mounting from Al Qaeda in Yemen extended well beyond lower level security oversights to the Obama administration’s highest counterterrorism officials, The Times’s Eric Lipton, Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti report after a review of what led to the failed Christmas Day terrorist attack.

Among the missed warning signs: In early November, American intelligence authorities say they learned that a man named “Umar Farouk” — the first two names of the jetliner suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab — had volunteered for a coming operation. In late December, more intercepts of Qaeda operatives in Yemen revealed discussion of the date of Dec. 25, and suggested that they were “looking for ways to get somebody out” or “for ways to move people to the West.”

Haiti Strategy: The Times’s Helene Cooper and Mark Landler consider the strains, politically and on resources, of juggling the United States pledge to Haiti with commitments in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and now Yemen. When the news cameras leave, will the United States muscle continue to flex?

Nelson’s November Trouble: Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, who has always enjoyed high polling numbers, is paying the price for being the Democrats’ 60th vote on the health care bill. A new poll released by his hometown newspaper has his approval rating below 50 percent.

More M.L.K. Celebrations: On Monday afternoon Mr. Obama will chat in the White House Roosevelt Room with a small group of older black Americans and their grandchildren on the legacy of the civil rights movement.

Other administration officials will be marking the day at several events around Washington. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is serving breakfast to the homeless at the Youth Service Opportunities Project and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will speak with the director of the National Park Service at a community clean-up event.

Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell will be speaking at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at a naturalization ceremony where the director of Citizenship and Immigration Services will administer the Oath of Allegiance to 81 new United States citizens.

For another artistic celebration of the holiday head to the National Cathedral at 4 p.m. where dancers and musicians from Christian, Jewish and Buddhist traditions will perform.

President Obama drew criticism on Thursday when he said, “we don’t have a strategy yet,” for military action against ISIS in Syria. Lawmakers will weigh in on Mr. Obama’s comments on the Sunday shows.Read more…